Triumvirate
by secretsofgray
Summary: Apocalypse AU. Demons prowl the night, and all Ino wants to do is find her way home - but things don't always go as planned. Forged in fire and bound by blood, they're not the conventional trio: a prodigal, an antihero, and a pariah. Kimimaro. Ino. Deidara.
1. The Fault Is Not in Our Stars

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Quotes and references are Shakespeare, and he's in the public domain. **

**The title was NOT taken from John Green; we got it from the same place, Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Just to clear that up. Quote at the bottom from _As You Like it. _**

:and with this came the realization that they could have been great:.

_They were the perfect recipe for disaster: the prodigal, the antihero, and the pariah. She was too loud, he too volatile, he too desperate. But the world was their stage, and they were the actors, bravado and presence and melodrama. _

_Real life, she reflected dimly, could just barely contain them. _

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Ino was stumbling through what used to be a forest, pursued by every demon under the stars. It seemed that way, at least; whatever they were, they were immune to all genjutsu and her weapons pouch had long since been depleted and _dammit, where's Sakura and her super strength when you need her?_

The truth of the matter was: Ino was holding out for a miracle. Her team was – most likely – dead, her partner was gods-know-where, and _holy shit, is that what I think it is?_

Not a miracle. Sanctuary.

There was a little hut, there, just past the ravine – Ino knew that it was most likely a futile effort, but a hut meant shelter and boundaries and boundaries meant that she could at least _attempt_ to ward herself.

_But what if someone's in there…?_

There was one way to find out. Ino took the chance – she cleared the ravine in one desperate, chakra-fused jump and used the momentum to vault over the barbed-wire fence.

The door, to her relief, wasn't locked. She slammed it shut and bit on her thumb, marked the door with an 'X.' She made the appropriate hand seals and braced herself, unsure of what was going to - -

She knew her pursuers had stopped. She had yet to breathe a sigh of relief at the silence when someone cleared his throat and said, "That was highly unnecessary."

Ino's eyes widened. She whirled around and saw that the hut wasn't abandoned like she had hoped and that, in fact, it was already inhabited by a very befuddled looking young man.

Said befuddled inhabitant had shoulder-length silver hair, red dots above his eyes that probably denoted some kind of clan rank, and was sitting at makeshift wooden table on a makeshift wooden stool, drinking tea.

_I could take him,_ Ino thought to herself. He had no weapons, and she felt no chakra, she could if she had to.

But first:

"Sorry," Ino said, "I, uh – is this yours?"

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Ino isn't quite sure how, but not long after this she's sitting in her own makeshift stool at the makeshift table and a stranger's offering her tea. He's polite, if lacking a little finesse; moments after she sits, he says, "There's a pump in the back if you want to wash up."

Ino nods, acutely aware of the grime that must be settled all over her. She can suddenly feel her injuries, too – a gash on her calf and burns on her left arm. She stands and makes her way to the back of the cabin. It takes a few tries, and at first the water's rusty, but it's suitable enough. She focuses on washing, on everything but being pursued, on _everything but the burning and the demons running and the war, the bodies -_

She scrubs her face until it's raw, then her arms, hands, and leg around the wound. There's no soap and the water's cold, but Ino feels loads better – especially after letting the water run through her hair. She can only imagine what a mess it is.

The cabin is more or less a large flat. There's an alcove where the pump is, a drain for the water, and a bar that might have held a shower curtain once upon a time. There's two or three closets, a wicker rocking chair, and an unused fire hearth. It was a home, maybe not so long ago.

She waits till she's sitting back at the table before she heals herself. She's low on chakra and achy all over, and doesn't want to pass out and fall if she overexerts herself.

"I'm Ino," she tells him as she rolls her pant legs up to inspect the wound.

"Kimimaro," he answers. She can feel his eyes on her.

Its shallow, nothing too serious – she heals it easily enough, pumping a little more chakra into both calves to ease the muscle tension and lactic acid. She does the same for the burns on her arm, then turns to face him.

"You're a medic."

He says it more like an accusation than anything; Ino frowns, but nods. "A field medic, yeah."

She notices something, then: all of a sudden, she feels a presence in the room – chakra. She glances around, unsure, but when her eyes rest on him she realizes that _oh my god, this guy's a shinobi. A really freaking strong one._ The chakra coming off him is thick and heavy and _tough,_ and Ino sees this as a nonverbal _don't-fuck-with-me_.

And, sitting there sipping his tea, this unarmed, completely relaxed man with the shit ton of chakra has suddenly become very, very dangerous.

.

.

.

_They make an odd trio, the three of them: the wayward flowergirl, the prodigal artist, the exile searching for redemption. Deidara confuses the roles more often than not; it was easy to lose yourself when everything around you was a living hell. _

_Classifying made things easier, though he knows people can't be classified. _

We're just players._ He's had it figured out for a while, now. Ino's the prodigal, the champion, the hero searching for something lost; Kimimaro's a wanderer, also searching, but unlike Ino he's a martyr in the making. Deidara fancies himself an anti-hero, a rogue, a warrior mentor, a sort of Michael Cassio. He knows it's futile to cast people he actually knows, to try to fit them under one archetype, but it gives him security and helps him sleep at night. _

_It never should have worked, but it did. _

.

The stranger- Kimimaro - didn't so much let her stay at the hut as much as he told her that it was temporary residence for him as well and that he didn't mind sharing it with her.

Ino took him up on it, mainly because she wasn't sure where she was, where her team was, or where the nearest village was. She spent five days in that hut, and over those five days she divided her time between scouting, searching, and talking to Kimimaro. She kept the conversation deliberately light, avoiding topics such as The Hell That Reigned Outside At Night (which was technically unavoidable, but no one wanted to talk about that), Why You Are Here (because, again, that was _private)_, and Your Past (because, seriously, everyone had some kind of sob story to tell and it could turn into a pissing match really, really fast. At night she slept on one of the moth-eaten blankets that had been in the closet; Kimimaro assured her that watch shifts weren't necessary, that the wards would hold.

She didn't speak of the outside, of the man who'd put her in this position, of Orochimaru or of the future.

Over those five days, she found out some things about the man she was staying with:

He was a little quiet, kinda stoic, but not without a sardonic sense of humor.

Polite as he was, he interrupted a lot in conversation if he thought he was right.

He was good at casino games, like poker, but couldn't play rummy for his life.

He liked the rain.

He _didn't_ like way that it made him cough.

The aforementioned cough was the reason he wasn't affiliated with a team at the moment, he'd revealed. He'd been the leader of a cutthroat pack, and once he couldn't hold his position…

Ino had nodded sympathetically. She knew what that was like.

If the way he kept up the wards was any indication, he was a strong ninja, but Ino couldn't tell his affiliation and she didn't know of his special abilities. She suspected ninjutsu, though, because he went without weapons and didn't look the type for genjutsu.

He was most likely looking for someone, too, because he'd go out at the same times every day and return just as the sun was setting.

On the sixth day he didn't return at all; Ino felt a pang of disappointment. She knew it was foolish, but she'd developed a certain camaraderie with him over the past almost-week.

The seventh day was a surprise and a half.

Just after she'd woken up, Kimimaro came stumbling in through the front door, looking for all the world like hell was at his heels and _oh my god, his spine was not where it was supposed to be._

Neither were his ribs, fingers, or kneecaps.

But the bones began _sinking back into his skin,_ so th_at_ must've been a kekki genkei, but there was blood, _a freaking lot of blood,_ and Ino snapped into her medic mode.

He looked like he'd been playing in barbed wire, and if the metal bits buried in his back were any indication, that wasn't too far from the truth.

.

.

.

When Kimimaro wakes, his head hurts and his back's tender and his chest is tight. He coughs, and this only hurts his head _more,_ but then she's placing a warm washrag on his forehead and saying, "Easy now."

He's laying on a pile of blankets. Kimimaro frowns and looks at her. She's looking a little worse for wear, tired and anxious. "Did it follow me?"

She shakes her head. He doesn't need to specify what 'it' was. "Your wards kept it away. They're down, now – mine are up, but they're not as strong."

He can see it now, the battle-worn look she has about her. He's not stranger to it. In his half-awake state, he reaches up a hand and touches the scrape on her cheek. "You were fending them off."

"Yeah."

He looks down at himself, noticing that he's _much_ better off than he'd though he'd be. "And you healed me."

Again, she nods. She bits her lip, and Kimimaro can feel her question before she asks it. She is a medic, after all. "Your…there's something wrong with your lungs, isn't there?"

There's no use denying it. It's what got him here in the first place. "Yes."

The other question, however, he wasn't expecting. "Do you...are you connected with Orochimaru?"

"_No,"_ he snarls. She recoils, and for a moment he feels bad. _A moment._ He couldn't help the vehemence; Orochimaru belongs in his past. There's nothing that he wants to do with the man, everything is half-buried truths and intricate deceptions.

Orochimaru belongs in his past. But the reality of it was, Orochimaru was also his present.

His _future._

"No," he reiterates. He doesn't stop to think where she might've gotten this notion. "I have _nothing_ to do with the snake man." She still looks wary, and Kimimaro figures that at this point, telling her his objective won't hurt. "I'm looking for a medic who can heal my lungs. There was rumored to be on in this region, but…" he shuts his eyes. He's no stranger with grisly, gruesome deaths, but there are some things that are best left unseen. "She's been killed."

He's under no illusion that the girl will be able to heal him; she is just a field medic, after all. But he acquiesces when she asks if she could check out his lungs, maybe see what was wrong.

Her hands are cool on his chest.

He can feel her chakra go through him, feel the foreign energy. He has to stop himself not to fight it; it's not that difficult, because it feels nice, relaxing.

He looks up and she's frowning, pulling her hands away. "I…the damage is extensive. Almost like pneumonia. But…" now she's eyeing him. "In my village, the Hokage is a legendary doctor. Orochimaru even went to her…"

Yes, Kimimaro knows all about that. How Orochimaru – Lord Orochimaru, as he'd called the man back then – sought out his former teammate, the legendary Sannin Tsunade. How she'd refused to heal his arms.

Ino's standing now, pacing. Propping himself up on his elbows, he says, "How could we do that?"

"Your wards." Ino has a look in her eye, like she has a plan. "If we travel by day, and use your wards at night…we could get to the Leaf. You can get your lungs healed, and I'll be home." She clasps her hands together in a girlish sort of delight.

He sighs, because, although her plan sounds _wonderful,_ there are too many variables, too many flaws.

_It also brings up the question, 'what was she running from?'_

He shoves it to the back of his mind. It's none of his business.

Instead, he concentrates on refuting her plan. "Even by day, the demons are out. And how do you know your village wasn't destroyed?" _Especially if it was connected to Orochimaru…_

She smirks. _Actually_ smirks. "I'm a genjutsu specialist –

"I thought you were a medic-nin."

"That too. But –"

"And the demons are immune to genjutsu."

She rolls her eyes. "I _know_ that. _But _I can sense where most of the demons are, right? So we can avoid them!" She stops pacing, turns to face him. "Kimimaro," she says, "This might _actually work._"

.

.

.

_The cliff that they're standing on offers the best view of the dessert sunset, of the city, of the impending explosion. He has an arm slung around both of them and is grinning from ear to ear as they watch the city go up in flames and smoke, just as the sun bleeds into the sky. _

_It's__ beautiful._

"_Better than any fireworks you've ever seen, yeah?" He squeezes his arms around them, rocking on the balls of his feet. There's nothing like a good explosion to get you excited, to release the endorphines, to make you sit back and go _wow.

_Kimimaro doesn't respond, but Ino chuckles and leans into his embrace. "Better than fireworks," she agrees warmly._

_And Deidara laughs. He steps in front of them, whirling on his heel to face the two of them. "It's all ours," he says, making a sweeping gesture with his arms. "All of it." _

"_We'll make it ours," Kimimaro corrects. He's the last person to indulge in childish fancy, but Deidara knows that he can see it, that he can feel it. _

_The veritable hell around them doesn't matter – the words are true, Deidara feels it in his bones. _

All the world's a stage…

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That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

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** If you are confused, never fear: the interludes are just that, interludes, and will fall into place eventually. **

**Thoughts? **

**To be continued...**


	2. Et tu, Brute?

_**Et tu, Brute? **_

**Whoop, chapter two. Because **_**When It All Comes Crashing Down**_** was taken down and I have yet to reupload it. Whoops. **

**Thank you to all you lovely reviewers, particularly those who left in-depth ones, you guys **_**rock**_**. *grin***

**.**

**:**the chains that bind us might be naught more than string to those who know not what they speak of:

.

_Let's find the Sanin, _she said. _It'll kill two birds with one stone,_ she said.

_It'll be easy,_ she said.

_She _lied…

"Might actually work, huh?"

The words were thrown over his shoulder, sarcastic and bitter and dry because really, that was the only way you could look at their current situation. If Ino dignified them with a response, he didn't hear it; the Hunter-nin that had him bound jostled him once more, and Kimimaro felt himself cough up blood. Black spots filled his vision, and he gasped when one of the shinobi elbowed him in the gut. Behind him, he heard Ino yelling, though he couldn't make out what she was saying.

Another coughing fit wracked his body, then vertigo overtook him and all was black.

.

.

.

The first couple days of traveling had been a little nerve wracking, a little monotonous, but not all that bad, in retrospect. Ino's plan was working, and it was a relief to the girl that it was.

They'd be on the move from just after sunrise to before sunset. After setting up camp, Kimimaro would set up the wards –which, like Ino's, were a complex system of genjutsu and ninjutsu (his were just that much superior, given the amount of chakra he had) – and they'd sleep in shifts.

During those two days Kimimaro was silent more often than not, and when he did speak it was of trivia, of basics, of technique.

When she asked, he told her more of his sickness: he told her that he'd been expected to die two years ago and was living on borrowed time, that it was insidious and only getting worse.

Ino left it at that.

What she did not ask him was _how, exactly,_ he received a Cursed Seal of Earth – Ino had noticed it back at the shack, when she'd healed him. It was at the base of his throat, the three curved lines that were a trademark of Orochimaru, and it wasn't something that you just _got._ She ignored the burning curiousity, however, in light of his reaction when she'd first brought the Snake-Man up...

_Maybe it's better to let sleeping dogs lie._

Especially since that the only piece of jewelry he wore was a pendant around his neck, deliberately hung to cover the seal.

Presently they were walking through a thick, dense forest. There'd been no sign of any of the demons thus far – Ino had steered them clear out of their way – but there also hadn't been any sign of human life, either.

It was almost too uneventful.

And with the way Kimimaro was walking – at ease, arms at his sides, _weaponless, walking –_ they were practically _inviting _an attack.

Ino'd seen him move; she knew that his reflexes were top-notch and that he'd have a bone-sword impaled through anyone who got within a ten-foot radius of them – but when she was working her genjutsu, she was vulnerable. The amount of concentration it took to walk and sense at the same time was extraordinary- she wasn't a Hyuga – and she wasn't with Shikamaru or Chouji, so there went that security blanket.

It was the third night of being out in the wilderness that they were seized. Later, Ino would discover, this was because she had been asleep and Kimimaro had been wracked by seizure-like-tremors as the Hunter-nin attacked.

.

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_The stranger was tall, blond, and totally freaking batshit._

_Ino liked him instantly. _

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Ino was thrown into the cell, Kimimaro's unconscious form dumped unceremoniously behind her. She landed on her backside, _hard,_ and clunked her head against one of the walls. She saw stars, briefly, and, upon recovering, cast her eyes around the otherwise unoccupied cell, then over to Kimimaro.

Still unconscious.

"That looked like it hurt, yeah?"

Correction: occupied cell.

Ino swung around in the direction the voice had come from. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, Ino could just barely make him out. He was sitting on the other side, shrouded in shadow; when Ino faced him, he grinned, flashing white teeth. He shifted, moving forward into the light. There Ino could see that he was young, tan, with a messy mop of blond hair.

"Like hell," Ino said in response. She didn't know why, but there was something about him – something earnest in his face – that was endearing, something that provoked a sense of camaraderie.

He leaned forward into the light. His eyes were startlingly blue. "I'm Deidara. You're ninja, yeah?" He jerked his head at the unconscious form of Kimimaro.

Well, there was no use lying. "Right."

"Specializing in…?"

"Genjutsu, but really I'm a Jack -of-all-trades."

He sat back, looking pleased with himself. "Perfect, yeah! Alright, you wanna bust outta here?"

Ino couldn't very well argue with that. "How? You have a plan?"

_Isn't this convenient?_

Deidara grinned. "Looks like you put up a fight, yeah? You're strong enough to resist, you're strong enough to break outta here."

"But how do we get out? We were blindfolded – what if we just run into more guards?"

He snorted. "Are you a ninja or not? I've escaped and been recaptured six times, yeah, before they figured out I was shinobi." He scooted closer and showed her his hands – they were bound by electric blue cords – chi-blocking chords. He wouldn't be able to us any ninjutsu. "They've got me, but not you, right?"

Ino nodded. "Nothing."

"Good. Now can you get this damn thing off, please?"

Ino complied, sending a jolt of chakra through the cords. They broke and disappeared with a sharp _hiss._

Deidara rubbed his wrists. He'd still be unable to use chakra for a few hours – until his reserves replenished themselves and his _chi_ became fully functioning. "Thanks, yeah."

"No problem. Now, about this escape plan of yours?"

He flashed her a toothy, Cheshire-cat worthy grin. "Now you're talking, sweetheart."

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.

.

They're plan was in order, Ino had coaxed Kimimaro back into consciousness, and all they had to do was wait for the next passing guard to chakra-unlock the cell when he slipped them food. Kimimaro, though a little surly, was alright, and the stranger – Deidara –was easy to strike up conversation with. They sat in a circle, Kimimaro with his back propped against the wall, Ino next to him, and Deidara across from them.

They had just told Deidara of their plans to find Tsunade, the legendary healer and Hokage; Ino's home and Kimimaro's health. He, in turn, told them of his goal. "But," Deidara said, casting Ino a sad look, "I think that your village has moved. Pein leveled it, and –"

"I know," Ino said. She'd been _there._ "The location has moved. The villiage itself...we're hunting it down."

But Deidara was persistent. "I dunno if anyone survived - but if they did -"

"What are _your_ plans, then?" Kimimaro snapped, cutting him off.

Deidara blinked, adn shrugged. "There's land untouched by this plague, yeah," Deidara told them. "And I plan on finding it."

Kimimaro snorted. "Good luck."

Ino's sentiments were the same, though, after telling him of their plan to find the Sanin, she doubted they had room to talk. She elbowed Kimimaro and shot him a look, which he thoroughly ignored. She couldn't - _wouldn't -_ let Deidara's words get to her. He was only telling her what he thought, after all.

Deidara shook his head. "You don't understand – there _is_ a place that hasn't been infected by the demons – Ino, that's where the majority of your village defected to, yeah. It's called the Fields – "

"You _are_ out of your mind," Kimimaro remarked. Deidara shot him a nasty look.

Again, Ino found herself agreeing. The Fields, if they even existed, were out past the Zones. If you could get through _that_ without finding yourself dead, then there were the Badlands you had to consider.

No one got past the Badlands.

"If that's where my village tried to get to," Ino said quietly, "They're most likely dead." She bit her lip, growing troubled. She knew that her plan had been sketchy and childish, but the shred of hope that maybe, just _maybe,_ her village way okay, or at least in the Fire Country…idealistic as her plans were, Ino held onto them because having a goal was what kept her sane. _  
_

"_C'mon!_ You two – you're both incredibly strong shinobi! One of the Leaf's Legendary Rookie Nine and a fallen from Orochimaru's favored, yeah? The three of us could _totally_ make it, I know–"

"And what affiliation do _you_ have?" Ino asked him.

The man grinned. His teeth were too white, amongst his grime-smeared face. "I'm Deidara, yeah. Former Akatsuki, S-Class missing nin, and pyro technician extraordinaire. Now shut up, I can hear the guard coming!"

.

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.

When the guard came, Ino was ready. He was a burly man, tanned, with a shaved head. He opened the cell, tossed a bowl of some kind of gruel in the direction of her and Deidara, spat, and managed to deviate from the norm in all of two seconds. He threw several senbon at Kimimaro, who dropped like a rock.

But before the guard knew what hit him Deidara was making a seal and yelling "_Katsu!_"

Ino turned her face away and shielded Kimimaro's unconscious form with her body; when it subsided, she frantically checked his vital signs: no pulse, but she could sense it with her chakra. He was _alive._

She was momentarily confused, then she remembered a mission from her chunin days: _Senbon to the vital points. Ten minutes of death._

_What did they want with Kimimaro?_

"He alive?" Deidara asked impatiently.

"Yeah!"

Deidara hauled her to her feet, slung Kimimaro over his shoulder and, despite being almost painfully skinny and carrying a deadweight body with him, managed to haul ass down the stone hallway.

Ino was right behind him.

Deidara, on all six of his escape attempts, had hidden explosives around the prison; he'd also managed to get the layout of it in his head. (Personally, Ino suspected that he was bluffing on that one, but Deidara had pointed out that he could just blow the place to smithereens until he found an exit.)

Case in point, the hidden explosions were coming in handy.

There were surprisingly few guards who came to see what was going on, particularly since there were many, many prisoners in cells. Once upon a time, Ino's heart might have gone out to them, but right now all she could think of was her own skin and possibly Kimimaro's.

Deidara made a sharp right and yelled, "Brace yourself!" Ino flattened herself against the stone wall just in time; the explosion that commenced shuddered the very roots of the building, dislodging stone wall and ceiling alike.

"Was that necessary?" Ino asked, coughing through the smoke.

His eyes glinted at her. "Do you have to ask? Now come _on!"_

She followed him down the corridor. When they came to a flight of stairs, Ino sidestepped and went in front of him. "I'm short. I won't be able to see if anyone's coming, and you're a little preoccupied." She gestured to Kimimaro.

Deidara snorted. "You really have no idea who I am, yeah?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "And you have no idea what you're dealing with. No come _on._" And with that she ran up the stairs, leaving an indignant Deidara to follow.

There were two guards, non-shinobi, with their backs to Ino at the top of the staircase; Ino dispatched them both in two swift strikes to the back of their necks, and beckoned for Deidara to follow her. "I think we're at the ground floor."

Deidara nodded. To their right, the staircase continued upwards; straight in front of them was another hallway that lead to a large atrium, and next to them was a window that let in meager predawn light. Peering out, Ino could see that it was a foot or two above the ground. "Here," she said. "We can break the window –" already she sent a foot through it. The glass shattered quite nicely.

Deidara was putting Kimimaro down. "Hold a sec. I need you to cover me." He jerked his head upwards, towards the flight to their right.

"What do you need up _there?_" Ino wondered incredulously. She wondered why she was even having this conversation when escape was _directly to her left._

"_Because,_ sweetheart," Deidara sneered, "My supplies – all my tools, weapons, and scope – are up there, along with anything _you_ or any other prisoners might have had. Anything we could need. We could use that, yeah?" He rolled his eyes. "Cover me. We'll leave him here, and –"

"I can't just _leave_ him here! What if something happens?"

Another eye roll. "He's smart. There's a window right there. If someone comes…" Deidara shrugged. Ino huffed, and with a quick, "Give me a minute" cast a genjutsu.

There. Now no one would see Kimimaro; in fact, if anyone came within three feet of the stairway, they'd immediately turn around. It would fool most ninja and all civilians, and it _should_ buy her and Deidara time.

Deidara looked a little impressed, but he covered it quickly. "See? Easy as that."

Ino rolled her eyes back at him. "Shut up and get your stuff."

.

.

.

Deidara was right: everything Ino could need while traveling was up there. She spotted her bag and immediately went for it, and rifled through the other bags that were discarded in the room.

Senbon. Kunai. Shrukien. She found Kimimaro's bag, too, as well as a change of clothes for the two of them. And, even though she knew she might be going a bit overboard, she exchanged her ratty rutsack for a purple cloak with numerous pockets sewn into it, throwing all her cargo into them.

Deidara was suiting up himself, strapping bags around his hips and donning the trademark Akatsuki cloak (Ino refrained from pointing out that Akatsuki was no more and thusly the flashy cloak held no significance.) He fastened some metal contraption onto his left eye, and looked up at her. "Ready?"

"My, my, my," a voice said from directly behind Ino, before she could respond. "What have we here?"

Ino ducked _just_ at the right moment; she swept her legs out behind her and got the man in the shin. It bought her enough time to scramble away and whirl around to face him.

_Shit._

Kabuto Yakushi.

"_Fuck!"_ Deidara threw a kunai at the man, but Kabuto merely dodged. He slid his glasses up onto his face and smiled.

A chill went down Ino's spine. She wasted no time in attempting her Mind-Body-Switch, but the appearance of a second shinobi – and the subsequent throwing of several senbon – made that impossible.

Not for the first time, she found herself wishing for Shikamaru.

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.

.

Deidara lept over a table and threw something at them; whatever they were, they exploded – not a lot, but enough to buy the two of them space. Ino knocked over a wooden table and used it as a barrier, but it was no use; they were surrounded.

"_Two_ shinobi," Kabuto mused, dusting soot off his shoulder. "How quaint. And you suppose that you'll escape, is that it?"

"Bastard and a half," Deidara spat, inwardly cursing the close quarters. He couldn't use his clay too much – not only was he running out, but all he had now were the C3s. _It'd fucking kill everyone, even me. Think._ _Keep him talking. He likes to talk._ "So, where is he, yeah? The Snake."

Kabuto smirked, and it took all in Deidara not to hit him. "I don't work for Orochimaru anymore."

"Bullshit!" Deidara snarled. _I'm going to fucking kill him._ "_You're_ the one who – who fucking _made this world like –_" But he cut himself off when Kabuto lunged at her. Ino. _"SHIT!"_

Deidara couldn't help it; much as he needed to save his own skin, he wasn't prepared to let the girl _die. _

She jumped out of the way, kunai at the ready, cursing, and preparing herself to block the blow –

But it never came. Kimimaro interfered, wielding a white sword. Kabuto's eyes widened. "_You!_"

"Me," Kimimaro agreed.

Deidara couldn't help it; he was relieved.

Deidara used the distraction to take out one of the guards with a well-aimed kunai. Ino did the same, and Kimimaro took out three of the civvy guards by _fucking shooting bones out of his fingers, what the fuck._

Well. There was an explaination for that:

_Weird. Ass. Kekkei Genkai. _

_._

_._

_._

"You're still sick, I see," Kabuto taunted as they came together, kunai against bone. Kimimaro snarled; his sickness was a huge blow to his pride, and Kabuto sure as hell knew it.

Kabuto knew a lot of things.

"You know," the man said, as Kimimaro whirled on his feet and slammed his fist into Kabuto's solar plexus. The man wheezed, but caught Kimimaro by the shoulder. He leaned close and his voice dropped to a whisper, a cruel smile curling at his mouth. "I could have healed you."

His chest was pressed to Kimimaro's back, his mouth brushing the shell of Kimimaro's ear.

_I'll kill him. _

With a yell, Kabuto pulled away as needle-sharp bones peeked out of Kimimaro's spine, slicing Kabuto where he'd touched him. Kimimaro whirled around and grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him a clear foot off the ground. A kunai dropped from Kabuto's belt and clattered to the floor, unnoticed, forgotten.

He hated him. He _hated_ him. Everything that had gone wrong - _everything_ that was fucked up, with Kimimaro and the world - could be directly traced back to Kabuto and his fucking _sadism._

"I should kill you," Kimimaro crooned. His grip tightened. "It would be almost worth having the Snake on my tail again."

And it would; the man's blood would be sweet. Of this, Kimimaro was certain.

There was real panic in Kabuto's eyes, but it broke when tremors wracked Kimimaro's body; he crumpled over, coughing, dropping Kabuto in the process and _cursing himself._

Kabuto scrambled away, a healing hand on his throat. His laugh was rough and cruel. "Why, you –" he paused, panting, "You're _nothing_ without him. Without _me._"

Kimimaro looked up through his bangs and glared at Kabuto, all his hatred - of self and otherwise - in that glare. And Kabutp, the _bastard,_ had the audacity to laugh, to _laugh,_ but he - perceptive as he was - didn't notice that around him, his men were falling to a flower girl from the Leaf and a malnourished _prisoner. _

His grip tightened on the kunai that had fallen.

"Aren't I?" Kimimaro asked, and in one swift movement killed him.

.

.

.

_Kimimaro knows the taste of betrayal; it is a familiar tang of it on his tongue. It's a musty taste and a sharp pang in his chest- or has he gotten the two reversed? _

_No matter. _

_He wonders to himself, as his fiddles his ring idly, why he's acquiesced to being involved with them. It's not as if he needs them, and it's not as if he couldn't get to the Fields by himself._

_He wonders if it is a need for companionship, though he doubts this. It isn't a need for power – he's not like the Uchiha. It isn't because he's overtly fond of his comrades, though he feels a growing affection for them. He knows, in the back of his mind, that he should nip it in the bud; after all, caring for others – having comrades – is what put him in this position in the first place._

But perhaps, _he thinks to himself,_ that was merely the way of fate. _After all, if it was written in the stars, what was he to do? _

_He glances over at the two of them. They're sleeping by the fire as he keeps watch. He could up and leave right there if he wanted to; it would be easy to pack his bag and leave under the cover of night. _

_He's not sure what stops him from doing just that._

_Instead he wakes up Ino under the guise that he'd just seen a shooting star. She buys it, and all is restored to its balance. _

_For now._

.

.

Deidara looked around him. Amid the carnage was one flustered kunoichi, himself, and another perturbed shinobi. "We good?" he asked, clearing his throat. He plucked his kunai out of the neck of a slumped guard and wiped it on his cloak. He didn't know why he still wanted it – granted, it's in good condition, but the Akatsuki had long since disbanded. Perhaps it was a reminder of the glory days.

Ha. He was barely twenty-two and he was already past his glory days.

He looked at Ino – she seemed to be in half decent condition – who was kneeling beside Kimimaro. He cleared his throat. "Uh, we should probably get goin, yeah?" Absently, he wondered why he lingered; Kabuto was dead, yes, but surely there was another sadistic bastard ready to take his place. He was still reeling from the discovery - nearly sixteen months, six escape attempts, and he still hadn't figured out that it was Kabuto who held him prisoner.

He wondered how much the world had changed since then.

Ino looked up and nodded. "Out the window?"

Deidara felt the corners of his mouth tug up. "I like the way you think," he found himself saying.

.

.

.

_We're even. _

_The words do not surprise Ino. What surprises her is the way he says it: clearly this was important to him, repaying a perceived deb. This she understands. _

_However, she has a feeling that she'll never understand what it means to _him,_ to him personally, because the way he looked when he said it…_

.

.

.

"All this time," Deidara muttered to himself. "All this time and I never _knew_ who I was captured by. I never…" he shook his head.

They were sitting in the forest. They'd covered enough ground to be considered safely away from Sound's prison, and now that night had fallen Kimimaro had put up his wards. Deidara had stuck with them almost seamlessly, urging them on through the unfamiliar territory. Ino kept her genjutsu up, just in case, and Kimimaro watched their back.

Kimimaro snorted from his vantage point on a large, flat, stone. "If you could do that, why never make an escape attempt before?"

"Do you know how long it took me to plant all those explosives? And if I were you, I'd start acting a little _grateful,_ yeah, since _she_ made sure your ass was safe." He gestured vehemently to Ino.

Ino threw up her hands in the universal 'I'm innocent' gesture. "Leave me outta this."

Her words went largely ignored. Kimimaro stood and took two steps closer to Deidara. Deidara was taller, but Kimimaro was more muscular; Ino hoped that it wouldn't come to blows, but if it did, she knew that Kimimaro's _kekki genkai_ would kick Deidara's long-range ass into next week.

_Or at least out of the wards. _

Neither were good.

Before either of them could speak, Ino asked, "Where _were_ we being held?"

Deidara tore his eyes away from Kimimaro and turned, presenting his back as an insult. "Sound Prison, yeah. You saw Kabuto. Underling of Orochimaru, the little shit."

"Former underling," Kimimaro corrected. He shot one last nasty look at Deidara, and added to Ino, "He left Orochimaru years ago. Before the plague was unleashed."

"He's the _real_ reason for all of this," Deidara made a sweeping gesture. "But you know that, don't you?"

"Of course," Ino murmured. How could she not? Kabuto…he was infamous for his ruthless experimentation, underhanded tactics, and sheer fucking madness.

_Sheer fucking madness that lead to the Plague. _

Ino shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. "They say that the Sound prison is supposed to be inescapable."

Deidara scoffed. "Maybe when the Sound Five were working for him, yeah, but not anymore. Ever since he and The Snake separated, he's been short on cursed-seal minions. I mean, there were actual _civilians_ there." The contempt in his voice was palpable, understandable: civvies were the lowest of the low, and had been the among the first to die, with no natural defenses to the Plague, or the demons.

Ino shot a glance at Kimimaro. _Cursed seal._ Questions were brimming in her mind, but when the man caught her looking, they died on the spot.

Deidara began fixing his hair, running his fingers through it best he could. It was long, for a man, and a couple shades darker than Ino's. He had a metal piece on his left eye, but it was partially hidden by his bangs.

"He's dead now." Kimimaro's voice was final. "I made sure of that."

"Great, now there's literally _no one_ in the goddamn valley who can control the demons," Deidara bit back, equal parts sarcasm and venom. "Fuckin' wonderful."

"I could." Kimimaro's tone dared him to argue.

Deidara snorted. "Yeah, okay, you're so sick you're practically a cripple."

And that was it.

Kimimaro lunged at him with a snarl, razor-sharp ribs protruding from his chest. "Say that again."

_Okay, time for female intervention_. "Knock it off, the both of you." She stood and put a hand on each man's shoulder. She sighed. "Look. It's been a very long…very _tiring_ day. We have the wards up, the demons won't bother us. Get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

The boys continued to glare at each other.

"_Now._"

...

"Fine."

"As you wish."

Both men turned on their heel,( Deidara's cloak flaring out behind him) and stalked to opposite sides of the camp.

Ino sat back down and massaged her temples. _Why am I always stuck with the difficult boys?_

_._

_._

_._

_Deidara doesn't know why he sticks with them. He thinks that it might have something to do with a craving for human interaction – _any_ human interaction – not matter who it is. The girl isn't bad, he supposes, in fact he's grown fond of her. The guy, however, is a holy terror. _

_Though Deidara supposes that life would be boring if he had no one to argue with. _

_._

_._

_._

Men at some time are masters of their fates:  
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,  
But in ourselves,that we are underlings.

_**Hope that wasn't too confusing…**_

_**Thoughts? **_

_**TBC. **_


	3. Brave New World

**Blech, guys. It's been forever. **

**Forgive me? **

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed. **

**.**

**.**

**.**

**_It was strong and bound for glory, and cursed with a thousand stories _**

**_-Gregory Alan Iskov_**

It's just before dawn, and it's Deidara's watch.

He yawns to himself, drawing in the dirt with a stick. He should be more alert, this he knows, but he's tired – more tired than he'd been in the prisons. He figures that it's the crash following the adrenaline rush – not to mention his all-but-depleted chakra reserves. Add the lack of sleep and _boom,_ you had yourself a potent cocktail for a _very_ fatigued shinobi.

_No worries,_ he thinks. _The wards are up. _

He wonders to himself why he's traveling with them, though it's pretty obvious: his syndicate has long since been disbanded. Akatsuki doesn't exist anymore than Sound or Sand or Leaf, and he refuses to entertain notions that it does; _he_ doesn't want to go back to Akatsuki, back to Pein and Tobi and all the _bullshit._ On top of that – well. Other than the Fields, where else does he have to go?

_And traveling alone…_

It was made nearly impossible, what with the state the world was in. Though they were technically not _demons,_ insofar as they were not monsters from the underworld, the creatures that resulted from Orochimaru's experiment nearly four years ago sure managed to raze hell (pun indented). Sure, he had his bird; but even though there were no (as of yet discovered) flying creatures, he would still need to land for food, possibly shelter, to rest. His wards were strong – but even _with_ wards, alone you couldn't be so sure.

And the demons weren't the only problem; you also had to worry about the _people. _

_Bounty Hunters._

Most villages – if not all – had been destroyed. Some of the shinobi remained in a group, attempting to rebuild their villages. Because only shinobi could make wards, and because this had been discovered nearly a year into The Plague, most of the civilians were dead.

He doubts that the Bingo Book still holds any weight – who cares if a price is on his head? He's still one of the most powerful shinobi – the fact that he was being held in Sound Prison – under Kabuto _himself –_ only reinforces the idea.

He's powerful. But traveling alone was what got him in trouble – what got him captured.

His memory of the prison is spotty, however; try as he might, all he can remember is his initial capture and detainment; the middle is hazy, the days blending together and blurring around the edges; he remembers about a week or so before Ino and Kimimaro's appearance clearly, but other than that…

He doesn't want to believe that he was experimented upon, but he doesn't really have a choice. There aren't a lot of ways to interpret the marks on his arms, his torso, his calves. The worst part is that he doesn't know if he's a ticking time bomb or a super-shinobi, but he _does_ know that his only hope is the Fields. _Everyone's _only hope is the Fields. He _knows_ that that's where a razed village with any sense would have headed – and the Leaf, annoying as it is, has sense. He's positive that the Dragon-Lady of a Hokage would've led them there. If Ino wanted her village, and Kimimaro wanted the Sannin, and the village and Sannin were at the fields – which is what _he_ wants – then it only makes sense for the three of them to travel together.

Ino had a point, about the Badlands. A large, shinobi-run village like the Leaf had half a chance of making it across – conspicuous as numbers were, they were _safe._ But three ninja? _Ha._

_Normally._ But they're powerful – Deidara _knows. _ Kimimaro is an ex-Sound member, and they aren't weak; Ino had been on the team that had killed Hidan – she was one of the Rookie Nine of Kohona; they had _guts._

_We could make it. I know we could. _

He needed to believe it.

It was what kept his sanity sewn together.

_._

_._

_._

_The world was a chess board. Deidara fancied himself a knight. He likes to think of Ino as a rook, and he sees Kimimaro as a bishop. He wasn't sure if he had a reason, or if he even needed a reason – it felt right, the three of them like that. It felt right in his bones. _

_And that was what mattered, right? Glory-bound and reckless and young – hell, he's only twenty-two. Ino, he found out, was barely eighteen; Kimimaro almost twenty._

_They were youth, and they were great. There were no disposable pawns, no vulnerable kings. They were the perfect pieces, a 3-man army. _

_Glory-bound. _

_._

_._

_._

It's day two of traveling, still the three of them. After much arguing, grumbling, and griping, they've managed to orient themselves in a general direction; they're sticking together, for now, but the camaraderie is tenuous at best, Ino thinks.

They've been up since the ass crack of dawn and traveling for two hours before they come across a creek. Here they stop, refilling canteens and shucking cloaks and generally washing up. The men give Ino what privacy they can, both of them offering to stand watch as she cleans herself. She takes them up on it and they stand resolutely with backs turned – at first, Ino thinks they're being over-the-top, but then she thinks that maybe it's a trust thing and if she can't trust them with _this_ then she really shouldn't be traveling with them.

It's not entirely necessary, however; Ino leaves on her undergarments as she bathes, exchanging them for a clean pair at the last second before putting her newly washed clothes back on.

She stands watch as they do their thing, and thinks.

Traveling with Deidara is much different from traveling with Kimimaro; Deidara is eager for conversation, trying desperately to catch up with what he's missed. He was captured by Hebi, just after Pein had leveled Kohona; he'd put up a fight, however, and killed 'a dumb redhead bitch' in the process – Ino assumes that this is Karin. He was subjected to experimentation while a prisoner, and he suspected Madara or Orochimaru to be his capturer – _Kabuto_ had been a surprise. And, he'd told her, if he'd known it'd been him, he'd have done something different.

"I don't know what," he'd said last night, just before they'd made camp, "But definitely something."

Deidara is easy to read and passionate, easygoing and honest. Compared to him, Kimimaro was a total stranger – reserved and quiet and really, not that approachable.

_Like Sasuke, in a way,_ she thinks – then immediately dismisses the thought. She was almost eighteen years old, _totally_ over Sasuke, and really –

A shadow falls across her. Ino looks up and nearly jumps – Kimimaro is standing _just_ too close, hair still wet and shirt still off. Ino doesn't know why, or exactly how to word it, but Kimimaro is stealthy – not ninja-stealthy, she would've picked up on that, but something else. Something not-quite normal.

_Bloodline. _

"Ino?" he says, and it sounds like a question. In his hand is his necklace, clutched tightly. "Can you hold this?"

Ino nods. "No problem." He hands it to her, and she can see that it's a scrimshaw: intricately carved whalebone, a little bit bigger than her thumb. She puts it in her pocket for safekeeping and stands to stretch her legs.

"Ino! Heads up!"

Ino turns just in time to catch the apple that's thrown her way. Deidara shoots her an infectious grin, and she finds herself smiling back. She's surprised – now that he's clean, it's easy to see that he was handsome, beautiful, even – his face is a shade too angular to be cherubic, but it's youthful and bright, with the kind of eyes boys hated and girls wished they had.

Deidara wanders over, clad in loose-fitting pants and mesh shirt. Once upon a time, he might have been muscular – not jacked, but lean – but the time spent in prison has taken a toll on his body. Through the mesh, Ino can make out numerous scars – some surgical, other not-so-neat. She averts her eyes and sits back down.

He sits next to Ino on the rock and bites into his fruit, chews, swallows. "There's a village not too far off from here, yeah. We should probably check it out."

Ino _mhms,_ and wonders to herself when the three of them became 'we.' She transfers her apple from one hand to another, pondering. "Yeah. It's worth a shot, at least. Where is it, exactly?"

"Ten or so miles south of here. We could probably make it today." He takes another bite out of his apple. "Just gotta run it by Miss Priss over there." He jerks his head in the direction of Kimimaro, standing waist-deep in the river and rinsing grime and blood out of his hair.

Ino laughs and elbows Deidara. "Give him a break; you were doing the exact same thing."

"Oh, watching me bathe now are we?" he elbows her back, his eyebrows shooting up suggestively.

"Oh, obviously. You have bacne, by the way." Ino grins.

Deidara rolls his eyes. "Alright, now I _know_ you weren't watching."

"Shut up and eat your apple."

He does just that, and they sit in companionable silence until Kimimaro walks over, donned in a plain white shirt and black pants. Deidara tosses him an apple, and Ino hands him back his scrimshaw. The necklace he clasps around his neck; the apple he contemplates for a moment before eating.

"There's a town just south of here," Deidara says. "I think we should check it out."

Kimimaro arches an eyebrow and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Is that wise?"

Deidara shrugs. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"What if it's infected?"

Deidara snorts. "The world is infected. If it's ghosted, we can see if there's anything to loot. If it's hostile, we'll take 'em. And if they're friendly, we'll see if they've got an inn."

When Deidara put it like that, it sounded like a really nice idea. "I'm game," Ino says. "I mean, if it's ghosted we'll be able to tell from pretty far away, right?"

"Even if it's ghosted – I wanna check it out. You never know what you might find."

"_You_ can check it out," Kimimaro tells him.

Deidara stands. The action puts him _just_ this side of too close to Kimimaro's personal space. "I will," he says. He stands there a moment longer, unblinking; Kimimaro's lip curls ever-so-slightly, and Ino can't help but think that maybe there's just a little too much testosterone.

Deidara tosses his apple core to the side and stalks off.

Kimimaro watches him, then turns to Ino. "Do you think that it's a good idea?"

She sighs. She isn't so sure, but Deidara sounded like he had a plan. "What choice do we have?"

Kimimaro's eyes were thoughtful, boring down into hers. "There is always a choice, Ino."

Ino bit her lip. "Let's at least give it a shot. What could happen?"

.

.

.

Let's give it a shot_, she'd said. _What could happen,_ she'd said. _

_To answer that: a fucking lot._

.

.

.

Edo was a small backwater town – and Deidara would like to stress _was._

The three of them stood outside the perimeter. It was just after midday. They were mostly out of the woods, having discovered the beaten path that led to the town gates.

Or at least what remained of them.

It was weird, though: the gates were completely destroyed but the stone wall was almost entirely intact. No buildings were burned, and the streets were clear. The fountain still spurted clear water in the town square and a restaurant sign proclaimed, 'open.'

But the town was entirely empty.

Thirty feet inside the wall Kimimaro stopped. "I don't like this," he said.

Deidara rolled his eyes and turned around to face him. "Stop being a pussy. There's nothing here, yeah. We're fine." He shook his head and continued down the cobblestone street. If memory served correctly, the shopping district was just down the main road – and a smithy was to the left, right next to the industrial clay seller. Deidara had come prepared to do some honest stealing, but if the town was abandoned then, well – he wasn't above a little looting.

"There's nobody here," he said. "What's to worry about? C'mon."

"Deidara, maybe he's right." Ino was a few feet behind him, brow furrowed. "I'm not sure if this is such a good idea…"

"You too?" Deidara couldn't believe it. "Come _on_ now, yeah. This is the only place for _miles_ where I'll be able to get my clay, and it's the perfect place for you guys to suit up, too. There's a shinobi smithy –"

"Are you trying to say," Kimimaro said, "That this used to be a shinobi village?"

"Only a little shinobi, yeah. They were the police – this wasn't a hidden village."

Kimimaro shook his head. "This village had _shinobi_ in it and it's entirely wiped out –"

"_Empty, _dumbfuck, _empty –_"

Kimimaro continued as if he hadn't spoken. "-and you're just going to parade around as if it were nothing?"

"That," Deidara said with relish, "Is _exactly_ what I plan on doing."

.

.

.

With Ino acting as the mediator, it was decided: Kimimaro would stand watch at the town square and Ino would cover Deidara's back. At the first sign of trouble, they'd book it; no questions asked.

Personally, Deidara thought that they were being paranoid. It was high noon – no demons would be out, and they could handle the bandits. _He_ could handle the bandits; he'd stood up to team Hebi, hadn't he?

_If there were any signs,_ he figured as he walked down the cobblestone street, _it'd be a different story. _

Signs – sings of anything. Signs of demons, signs of bandits, of rogues – but this didn't look like any ghosted city he'd seen; really, it looked more like one that Sasori would put under a genjutsu to clear out so Akatsuki could regroup.

_Man, wasn't that back in the day…I wonder where Sasori is now, huh. _

Thinking about his old partner gave him mixed feelings – vitriolic as their relationship had been, Sasori had been the closest thing he'd had to a mentor in Akatsuki.

The cawing of a crow pulled him out of his thoughts. Deidara wasn't superstitious – well, he hadn't been before – but…

_Meet your demise as the crow cries,_ the saying went. And crows were like the canary in the coalmine – always the first to cry out when a demon was near.

_C'mon,_ he thought to himself. _Demons, in the middle of the day? seriously? _

"Did you hear that?" Ino asked, coming up at his elbow.

Deidara frowned. "It was just a crow, Ino."

"It's never just a crow. Maybe we should head back."

He shook his head. "It's just down this way – c'mon, five minutes."

She followed along, her hesitation obvious. Deidara resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he still kept his guard up, watching – just in case.

As he rounded the corner near the alleyway, the smell hit him: like rotting meat and death, cloying and thick – he stopped, slowly pulling a kunai out of the holster at his thigh. He held a closed fist up behind him – the universal signal for stop – and watched as it crawled out in the open.

Deidara nearly vomited. It was a Feeder, a lesser monster that looked like the cross between a mange-ridden dog and a crocodile. It dragged its belly on the ground, not noticing Deidara.

_Shit._

He grit his teeth and didn't movie. With the wards up, Deidara wouldn't have to worry; there was no way that a Feeder would be able to get past them.

Unfortunately, the wards weren't up.

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck. _

And there was another problem.

_Feeders are elusive. It shouldn't be out in the open like that… This one's probably working under a Greater –or even an Archdemon. And it's day. What the fuck is it doing out in daylight?!_

_Fuck!_

"Ino," he said, lowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. "We have a little problem."

He heard her exhale. It was loud in the silence; he inwardly winced. "How little?"

"Feeder," he whispered, backing up. "It hasn't seen me yet, but…"

He could hear the surprise in her voice. "What's it doing out in the daylight?"

_Like I fucking know?!_ "I don't know, yeah?"

"Has it seen you?" She bit her lip and cast a glance over her shoulder as they began walking away.

"No. We should be good."

Ino's brow creased. "If that was only a Feeder…there's probably more."

"I didn't see any," Deidara offered, eyes widening when he heard a clamor in the distance. He glanced at Ino, and her thoughts seemed to on the same _oh shit_ page as his.

_What did I just get us into…_

"Kimimaro," she said. "Fuck."

She took off at a run, Deidara hot on her heels.

_Fuck indeed. _

_._

_._

_._

_The scrimshaw was warm from when she'd held it. _

_It felt nice against his throat._

.

.

.

_Abandon all hope, ye who enter here_

_-Dante_

__**Hello my lovelies! I'm back, happy to say, and finally got around to finishing this chapter...Thank you, Sandy .**

**Thanks to you all for the feedback. Y'all rock! :3**


	4. Bloodbrothers

**Quote creds to Shakespeare. **

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed. **

**Sorry I took forever - laptop crashed. **

**Yeah. I know. **

**ALSO: YOU. kIYUMIARASHI. YOU NOTICED THE PUN. and the typo. THAT MAKES ME HAPPY.**

**AND ALL OF YOU. Reviewers, readers: you're my absolute favorite. Seriously, you all rock so much - big, big, BIG thank you. 3**

**There's an A/N at the bottom that I would appreciate you to check out - after you read, of course. ;)**

..We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother…

_"I could heal you." _

_The words are murmured at the back of his neck, Kabuto's breath caressing the shell of his ear. Kimimaro doesn't move; he expression remains unreadable as he stares out at the carnage in the base's courtyard. _

Monster,_ his psyche whispers._

_Kimimaro can't help but wonder who. _

_As he gets no response – and Kabuto's been getting a _lot _of those lately – he sighs and leaves. _

_Days later, as Kimimaro is the only one to walk away from the burning building, he still doesn't know who the monster is. _

_He pretends to not care. _

_._

_._

_._

Kimimaro had noticed the group of Feeders minutes after Ino and Deidara had departed, and all he could think was _you've got to be kidding me._

Feeders were universally acknowledged as stupid and slightly trigger-happy. They were not organized, like Greater demons, and not very dangerous, like Toxins – and they certainly weren't _Archdemons,_ so Kimimaro figured he really didn't have much to worry about.

Well – technically. There was the matter that _it was fucking daylight_, which kind of conflicted with the universally accepted truth that _demons did not appear in the fucking daylight._

_That,_ Kimimaro thought, _is quite a problem._

There were five or six of them in and around the empty basin of the fountain inside the town square. From his position on top of the ground-level municipal building not ten meters away, Kimimaro could see them – but they couldn't see him.

He figured he had one of three choices:

Deal with the Feeders himself

Find Ino and Deidara and go from there

Sit back and keep an eye on things

Tempted as he was to go with the first, the third was the most practical. There was nothing to alert them about – well, aside from the sudden diurnal behavior – and Kimimaro wasn't keen on starting a confrontation.

Not now, at any rate. His bronchitis-like condition had been acting up lately. He wasn't coughing, no, but he was fatigued – fine enough to travel and watch Ino's back when she acted as Sensor but nowhere near the fighting shape he'd like to be in.

_I can handle the Feeders, though. If I have to._

At the sound of running feet, he looked up. Ino and Deidara were coming towards him up the main road. He tried to signal to them to stop, to be quieter – seriously, what sorry excuse for shinobi _were_ they -, but the Feeders had already noticed.

_Shit._

.

.

.

_Half a dozen Feeders, all roosting in a fucking fountain. _

Praying that Kimimaro stayed put, Deidara crafted a C3 and threw it at the fountain. "Hit the deck!"

He stopped, spun himself and Ino around and ducked.

_BOOM!_

He waited till bits of shrapnel stopped hitting his back then straightened, blinking dust out of his eye. The fountain was totally decimated, a huge pit left in its wake. The smoking corpses of the Feeders were strewn about the square, some oozing thick black ichor.

Kimimaro was still atop the building, staring down into the pit. Deidara walked closer, Ino in tow, following his gaze.

Below in the pit were dozens of more Feeders and Toxins – and they were _not_ happy at being disturbed.

"Oh, fuck."

Well. _That_ summed it up accurately.

Deidara made to throw another bomb, but Ino stayed his hand. "I didn't sense them. Who knows how many more there are."

"She's right."

_Fuck,_ how did Kimimaro _do_ that? Just fucking appear out of _nowhere –_

"For whatever reason," he continued, "They're out in daylight. If she didn't sense them…"

"I get it, yeah. Something's up." Deidara looked around, surveying the area. They could always take the high ground on one of the buildings to buy some time…

He nudged Ino. "Apartment complex to your right. Clean?"

She bit her lip. "I…I'm not sure. I haven't sense _anything_ since we got here…"

"It's our best bet. Let's go." Kimimaro, bone-sword in hand (seriously, like _when_ did he do that?!) ushered them into the complex. Deidara went first, swinging himself up onto the wrought-iron fire escape, Ino and Kimimaro behind him. The demons were barking, snarling, slithering all over the place and gathering at the foot of the building.

Deidara looked back. A lanky, leathery Toxin spat up at him. It landed on his shirt, the acid burning through the fabric and _his skin -_

_Shit._

He hastily pulled the shirt off and tossed it. It landed amidst the demons and they ravaged it, tearing at the shirt and gnashing with fanged teeth, making unsettling sounds and _god, I'm going to puke –_

Go figure, right? His fucking _arm_ gets crushed and he's _fine,_ but the sight of the bastard children of crocodiles and wolves makes him want to toss his cookies.

"You alright?" Ino asked from two landings up.

Deidara waved her up and continued climbing. "Fine!"

By some miracle, they made it to the roof unmolested. Deidara sat on a crate and grit his teeth. _Shit, that stung._

"You okay…?"

He waved Ino off. "It just stings. We've got bigger things to deal with, yeah."

She looked concerned but didn't press the issue.

Kimimaro was peering over the ledge. "Most of them are at the foot of the building…looks like they're trying to get up."

"Are they succeeding?" Deidara didn't mean to sound as sarcastic. He really didn't.

Kimimaro spared him a scathing glare. "Not at the moment, no."

Ino was frowning. "I didn't sense them. I _haven't_ sensed them. I can see them but I can't _sense_ them."

"They're also out during daylight," Kimimaro said. "Maybe that has to do with it."

"Maybe," Ino said, but she sounded doubtful.

"Do you think it's a really strong genjutsu, yeah?"

Ino bit her lip. "Well – it's possible, but…"

He shrugged. It hurt. "I'm just saying. Like a genjutsu that's screwing with your genjutsu?"

She shook her head. "That's not how genjutsu work…then again…"

"With the demons, we don't know what the hell we're up against," Kimimaro said, turning to them. "It could be anything. Don't rule it out unless you're _absolutely _certain."

Ino hesitated a moment. "…It's not a genjutsu. I'm sure."

"Then the question is," Kimimaro said, "Do we wait it out or attack?"

_That,_ Deidara thought, _is an excellent question._

He kept his eyes trained on the fountain, squinting against the glare of the sun – _are they scattering? Where are they going?_ The few Feeders and Toxins that had stayed around the fountain, it seemed, were slithering off – and they looked hurried, too.

_They're organized. And out in the daylight. And Ino didn't sense them. Shit. What the fuck is going on?_

No one answered – no one _could,_ because at that moment, a giant, snake-like _thing _burst out of the pit.

"_Ho_-ly shit!" Deidara was on his feet in an instant, hands subconsciously working his clay.

He had to be careful – he only had C3s – but that…

"That shit's a Greater demon. Might even be an Archdemon." Ino unsheathed a kunai and swore. "Either way, not good."

It was a sickly shade of green and twice the size of a large horse. It looked vaguely dragonesque, with a long snout and razor-sharp teeth. Instead of forelegs, it had two leathery wings –_ massive,_ leathery, wings - that were the same sickly shade of green as its body. It let out a roar that set Deidara's teeth on edge; the other demons responded in kind, creating an earsplitting cacophony that grated on the edges of his brain and made Deidara just want to crawl into a pit, into his mother's arms, to off himself right then and there _as long as the noise would go away -_

"Off the roof!" Kimimaro shouted, jerking Deidara out of his thoughts. Deidara barely heard him, but understood: they needed to hide. _Now._

_If that thing sees us, we're fucked._

"Inside," Ino said, shimmying down the fire escape and kicking out the slats of wood that covered a window. She swung herself in; moments later, a slim arm beckoned for them to follow.

The room was dark and dusty, obviously in disuse. Almost, Deidara thought, _too _empty – normally, this would be the perfect place for birds or bats or owls to roost…but there was nothing.

"What do we do now, yeah?" Deidara asked, turning to face them. Ino bit her lip. Kimimaro narrowed his eyes.

Nobody spoke.

_For Christ's sake._

"If we can stay here," Ino said, "We should. There's no point in fighting a Greater for the hell of it."

Kimimaro, it seemed, agreed with her.

Deidara couldn't argue with that, but something inside him was growing antsy. "I'm not comfortable with that, yeah."

Kimimaro rounded on him. "You think we are? It's not –" but he cut himself off, going eerily still.

"What's –" Deidara went to ask, but a sharp _"Fuck!"_ from Kimimaro cut him off.

"They're coming," Kimimaro said, bone-spear formed in hand, stillness belying his anxiety.

And coming they were, lanky forms of the Toxins swarming the bottom of the building, piling on top of one another and fucking _trying to reach the fire escape, shit shit shiiiiiit. _

Deidara stepped back and almost instinctively began working his clay. Infrastructure be damned – C3s would be _perfect. _"Uh, guys? We have a problem…"

"Oh my god," came Ino's horrified whisper. "They're – _they're coming up the stairs."_

"_Fuck."_ Kimimaro snarled. He knocked the boards of wood out of the window and looked down. His brow furrowing in concentration, he spread his hands wide in front of him and, pushing the bones out of his body, sent bullet-sized projectiles down into the midst of the demons.

"Like _that's _gonna do anything, yeah?" Deidara sneered, but it went unheard – mainly because of the _giant fucking lizard_ that had just _smashed through the window._

Right. The ratbastard could fly.

.

.

.

She couldn't sense them.

_She couldn't sense them._

After being so dependent on that sixth sense her genjutsu afforded her, Ino felt almost _blind._ And now- fucking _Christ!_ That thing –

She ducked and rolled out of the way as it crash-landed. _Open. We need to get out in the open._

The idea struck her – it was, well, it was fucking _crazy,_ but…

She didn't think; she acted.

Her nature-type ninjutsu was nowhere _near_ the level of anyone with a natural affinity, but she'd learned the very basics of what she could for the sake of learning them – she was kicking herself, now, that she hadn't pursued it, but…

Well, a fire release was a fire release, no matter how strong – especially if your motive was arson.

And wood was flammable – _especially_ when it was old, dry, and thin.

The flames engulfed the edges of the room, licking up the walls and making smoke. Ino grabbed Deidara's wrist, searched for Kimimaro. Across the room, their eyes met, and somehow Ino understood.

Yanking Deidara along with her, Ino fled the room and raced down the hall. The building had been an apartment complex, once upon a time, or maybe a brothel, Ino couldn't tell. Rooms lined the hallways; most of the doors were ajar, she noticed as she raced down the hall, or completely off their hinges, hanging at odd angles.

Deidara seemed to know that the window at the end of the hall was her goal: he sent a little bird flying ahead of them, and it exploded on impact with the boards, effectively destroying the window…_and_ that face of the building. He gripped her hand tighter as they fell, chakra absorbing the majority of the impact five stories later.

Ino's knees ached as they ran - ninja nor not, the laws of physics still applied to them – but she steered them towards the front, where Kimimaro (hopefully) was, Deidara's hand still in a white-knuckled grip because _fuck,_ the world was ending and she needed _something_ to hold onto.

.

.

.

Kimimaro stalled for a good fifty seconds before launching himself at the thing and taking it out the window – and none too soon, either; the flames were beginning to _really_ catch and the building was coming down. He was protected by his rib cage – _literally_ – so the monster itself wasn't _really_ a problem…well…

At least, it wasn't as they fell; Kimimaro used a blade from the palm of his hand to pin its wing to its side, other arm wrapped around its neck as he threw them both through the wall.

The wyvern hit the street first, absorbing most of the impact before writhing and bucking and throwing Kimimaro. He hit the ground _hard,_ skidded to a stop on his side. The bones that were growing out of his body broke on impact, probably, he reflected dimly, saving the ones inside him from doing so.

Before he could make another move, the wyvern roared - and a second and third and fourth wyvern appeared, blue and black and white in the sky _and coming straight for them._

Shit.

Little clay birds flew past him, up toward the three other wyverns in the sky; Kimimaro struggled to a sitting position, and feeling of dread in his gut as he coughed, hacking up blood and gunk, and _shit, the smoke did more damage than it should've. _

Two Inos launched themselves at the wyvern, tanto at the ready. Hissing in confusion, the wyvern swiped at them both – only to be attacked by the _real_ Ino from the rear. Meanwhile, Deidara was hauling Kimimaro up by the biceps, righting him on his feet. He might've asked _"Are you okay?"_ but it sounded far off and distant, like he was talking underwater. Ino must've yelled, then, because Deidara whipped around and, kunai in hand, attacked the wyvern.

.

.

.

Ino had meant to kill the thing with one swift blow to sever its head, but that hadn't exactly worked out like she'd intended. The thing had scales, and they acted as a thick armor – you had to strike it on an angle, or nothing would _really_ happen. (Kimimaro's bone-swords seemed to be sharp enough to cut through, though – Ino could see the wounds where he'd hit it.)

She _also_ hadn't been anticipating the thing to whirl its head around, grab her by the bicep, and slam her to the ground.

Yeah.

_That_ hurt.

Thank god Deidara intervened, launching himself at the thing. Ino recovered herself, _(barely)_, pumping chakra through her system to stave off the initial pain. (A useful trick, but she'd pay for it later.) She roundhouse kicked the thing square in the jaw, and Deidara held it down, pinning it by its neck with his torso, arms straining to keep its jaw closed.

"Ino! Get it!"

Ino saw what he meant: the underside of the neck was bare and soft, and it slit easily when she plunged her tanto into its throat, again and again and again, until it stopped moving. Ino pulled her tanto out one last time, arms shaking and knees quivering. Kimimaro – how did he_ do _that? – caught her by the shoulders before she fell. "Easy," he murmured, eyes cast skyward. "We have company."

Ino followed his gaze and felt her stomach drop. The air around them was smoky, from Deidara's bombs and the fire she'd set, and around them hovered three slightly smaller, slightly less ugly wyverns, mouths open and eyes narrowed.

In a word, they were fucked.

Deidara had his back against theirs. "When I count to three, yeah, I want you two to fucking run –"

_"Shh!"_ Kimimaro hissed, cut off by a coughing fit.

The black one landed and stalked toward them. Ino swallowed and braced herself, ignoring the burning in her arm where the demon had bit her and mapping out an escape in her head, trying not to think of how fucked she was as black spots bled into her vision.

And then - Ino almost didn't' believe it – before any of them moved it stopped short, looked Ino in the eyes, and _bowed._

_"Mistressss,"_ it hissed. The other two followed suit, dipping their heads in front of Ino.

That was the last thing she remembered before she passed out.

.

.

.

_If any of them were to be the demon-regent, he was glad it was her. She was compassionate enough to not end up like Kabuto, strong of will and even stronger of heart. In his own way, Kimimaro admired her. _

_She was a reflection of himself – only less flawed, brighter, smoother around the edges. _

_Better than him, in more ways than one. _

_._

_._

_._

_**Erm, guys? Yeah. So, I've noticed that there's a bit of a copycat story in FFN's archives - and I was wondering...how exactly does one go about dealing with that? (What if it's not? But I'm pretty sure it is. But I don't want to seem bitchy. But I also don't care. GAckK). **_

_**Thoughts? **_


End file.
